The Paradise Town Council met Tuesday night to hear an update on the Downtown Paradise Safety Project, discuss the option of an impact fee to expand the Butte County Jail and to extend the application period for the vacant planning commission position.

During the update on the Downtown Paradise Safety Project, Town Engineer Marc Mattox said the project won't affect traffic flow too adversely but is expected to increase public safety.

Both Paradise Police Chief Gabby Tazzari-Dineen and CalFire Division Chief David Hawks both said they don't believe the presented road design will negatively affect their ability to serve the public.

"I believe that this project will reduce collisions, I believe that it will be safer for pedestrians, our center lane will be better for our emergency responders when we are responding to an incident and it will reduce the rear-end collisions," Tazzari-Dineen said.

On average 24,000 cars drive past Town Hall each day, Mattox commented, and about 20,000 cars on average continue up Skyway and drive through the downtown corridor. The downtown corridor is also where the most collisions happen in Paradise, most of which are rear-end collisions.

Mattox concluded his presentation by noting that the design will balance Skyway so pedestrians, bicyclists, shoppers and motorists will be able to safely reach their destinations.

"There is no perfect design, but this is the best design," Mattox said.

Most individuals who addressed the council during the discussion of the road design said they think Mattox did a good job with his presentation, however, the consensus from most individuals who spoke at the meeting was that they don't want the design to be approved by the council in May.

Paradise resident Ward Habriel said he is against the project design, and presented a petition to council with 45 signatures of Paradise residents who are against the idea of changing the downtown Skyway corridor to two lanes instead of four.

"I (received) about 30 signers in 15 minutes," Habriel said. "I only found one person who said 'no' until he had a chance to hear the presentation. He did show up."

Habriel added that there are other petitions being shared with residents by other individuals and he "expects they will be turned in at next week's meeting."

Another resident, Ron Cushman, urged the council to ask their friends what they think of the road design, not just business owners along the Skyway.

"Ask your friends what they think, I did," Cushman said. "One of them said, 'Ron, we had it that way and we changed it. Why did we change it?'"

Mayor Lotter encouraged Cushman to attend the next workshop on March 20 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall "and certainly talk to Marc and he can answer your questions."

Cushman replied that he doesn't want to address Marc, but rather the council, who will be making the ultimate decision.

"It is not Marc's job, and he has done a wonderful job, I am addressing you folks who are making a decision," he said.

The council said they want every individual to attend each council meeting and attend the public workshop to become informed on the matter and express their opinions. The town also added that if any groups would like to receive a private presentation of the road design at a meeting, the staff would be able to meet with them.

Councilman Steve Culleton noted that he wants the public to attend the meetings if they have an opinion on the design and express that opinion.

The impact fee was passed by the council with a 3-1 vote, Vice Mayor Greg Bolin dissenting.

This fee will affect the building of new homes in town and other cities in Butte County, pending approval of their councils.

Bolin said he couldn't support the fee because new home buyers already have enough challenges when coming into town.

In addition, the council voted 4-0 to extend the application period for the vacant position on the Paradise Planning Commission until April 21. The council made this decision after receiving only one application, and were unsure if other residents simply didn't have a chance to apply or if they were uninterested in serving.